Italy and Its Eastern Border, 1866-2016 by Marina Cattaruzza

Author:Marina Cattaruzza [Cattaruzza, Marina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Italy, General, Modern, 20th Century
ISBN: 9781317648734
Google: eTslDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2016-10-04T16:18:55+00:00

6  The Italian Occupation in Slovenia and Dalmatia

1941–43

1 “By the Grace of the Führer”: The Italian Occupation in Yugoslavia

On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, thus starting World War II.

Immediately afterward, Great Britain and France issued their war declarations, even though no significant war operations followed (the so-called “phony war”). Poland was occupied and defeated in three weeks. The Soviet Union occupied the eastern part of the country as had been stipulated in the secret protocol of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact; in June 1940 it also annexed the Baltic countries, as well as Bessarabia and the northern part of Bucovina, both Romanian territories.1

Even though it had signed the “Pact of Steel” in April 1939, Italy declared that it would not participate in the war, until the German victories of the first half of 1940 over Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France convinced Mussolini that the conflict would end soon. He then declared Italy’s entry into the war on June 10.2 On October 28, 1940, Italy attacked Greece with disastrous results which forced the Reich to come to the aid of its ally.3 The illusion that Italy could wage a parallel war, pursuing independent aims in the Mediterranean and the Balkans, was shattered by the inadequacy of the weaponry and the overall weakness of the Italian army.4 Besides, it seems that the main objective of the high command with regard to the campaign in Yugoslavia was to keep the army intact as much as possible and to avoid casualties. “The destruction of Tito was secondary in this context.”5

Mussolini himself wondered whether Italy was not, by now, a mere “vassal nation” of Germany. There were only two alternatives in the “new European order,” he said: reduction to the condition of a satellite state or becoming a German colony.6 On October 13, 1941, he repeated this concept in greater detail:

In Germany there exist certain phonograph records. Hitler presses them; the others play them. The first record was the one about Italy being the loyal ally, on an equal footing with Germany…. Then came the second record, the one about victories, that Europe would be dominated by Germany…. The associated States will be confederate provinces of Germany. Among these the most important is Italy…. We have to accept these conditions because any attempt to rebel would result in our being reduced from the condition of a confederate province to the worse one of a colony. Even if they should ask for Trieste tomorrow, as part of German Lebensraum, we would have to bow our heads.7

To be fair, at least until the very end of 19428 most observers gave similar assessments of the situation and of the features of German hegemony in Europe.

After Yugoslavia joined the Tripartite Pact, a group of Serbian officers leaning toward Great Britain staged a rebellion in the night between March 26 and 27, 1941. They deposed the prince regent Pavle and declared the heir to the throne, Petar Karadjordjević, to be of age.9 At this point, Italy’s plan to attack Yugoslavia took shape quickly.

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